Cairo
is urging caution and restraint to a hotheaded WashingtonBy Nevine
Khalil and Soha Abdelaty, Al-Ahram
Weekly, 20-26 September 2001

Egyptian officials did not
miss the opportunity this week to promote their decade-old call for organising
an international anti-terrorism conference as the best means of stamping
out terrorism worldwide. Cairo also made it clear that Egypt would not
take part in any military coalition planning military retaliation against
Saudi dissident Osama Bin Laden -- America's prime suspect in the attacks
against the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on 11 September. Believed
to be living in Afghanistan, the US maintains that Bin Laden enjoys blanket
protection under Afghanistan's ruling hard-line Islamist movement the Taliban,
which currently controls 95 per cent of the territory.

While offering Egypt's assistance
in the investigation, Cairo said that Washington was moving too fast and
not sharing any of the evidence it has implicating Bin Laden. Throughout
the week, a flurry of international diplomatic exchanges took place between
Egypt, other Arab countries and Western powers in order to take stock of
unfolding events. President Hosni Mubarak held talks with Palestinian President
Yasser Arafat yesterday and also met separately with Syria's Bashar Al-Assad
and King Abdullah of Jordan on Tuesday. He also dispatched Foreign Minister
Ahmed Maher and Information Minister Safwat El-Sherif for talks with Libya's
Muammar Gaddafi on Sunday.

President Mubarak also kept a high
profile in the Western media through interviews counselling the US not
to rush to retaliatory action. "Don't be in a hurry, wait until you have
hard evidence against those who committed this crime, then action can be
taken," Mubarak said in an interview with BBC television. "We shouldn't
jump to conclusions without a full investigation. Act against [perpetrators],
not against a country."

Mubarak also stressed that he will
not commit any Egyptian troops to a coalition. "Let's not talk about Egyptian
forces," he told the BBC. "The US and British forces are enough. They are
much more capable than Egypt in that [respect]." Mubarak also warned that
waging a war against Bin Laden or Afghanistan would "create a whole generation
which will be working in terrorism."

On Saturday, US Assistant Secretary
of State for Near Eastern Affairs Edward Burns summoned Arab envoys in
Washington to inform them of the first type of assistance Washington was
expecting -- a list of "do's" in the fight against terrorism. The list,
which recommends arresting and prosecuting terrorists on their own soil,
came as no surprise to Egyptian officials. "[Burns] expressed [the US]
assessment of what countries should be doing towards [combating] terrorism,
but in truth, we have been calling for all of that for some time now,"
explained Foreign Minister Maher on Monday.

Egypt has already committed itself
to assistance in ongoing investigations. "We are willing to cooperate with
the US in the investigation and [provide] any information that can be exchanged
between our two countries to uncover this crime," Maher told reporters
on Saturday, after visiting the US embassy to convey his condolences.

There were other demands at the Burns
meeting. The US indicated that it expects the countries summoned to take
part in a coalition similar to the coalition formed in 1991 to repulse
the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, but this time the coalition could also include
Israel. Once again, Egypt displayed a lack of enthusiasm towards the proposal.
"The idea of the coalition, who is part of it and who is not, and what
its role is -- all of these matters have no answers," said Maher.

Rumours that these countries have
no choice but to join a coalition were refuted by Maher, who told reporters
that "every country makes suggestions and other countries are free to accept
or reject these suggestions. Attempts to impose something on any of the
countries is unacceptable."

Mubarak's top adviser, Osama El-Baz,
said that America's preference is to form a sweeping coalition, essentially
asking its friends to take its word on the fact that it has hard proof
against Bin Laden and his group, Al-Qa'eda. "Understandably the US wants
to avenge its dead," El-Baz told a gathering at the Ministry of Youth on
Monday. "However, it is moving too fast, wanting countries to quickly decide
whether they are with or against US retaliatory action."

The need for speed, according to
El-Baz, is for "psychological and political reasons, but this does not
allow much time for contemplation or proper consideration." He said that
at this rushed pace, most countries will say: "Yes, we support you, but
...", ultimately placing various conditions before committing forces to
a coalition.

Mubarak said that it was too early
to form a coalition against so nebulous an enemy as 'terrorism'. He stressed
that what is needed is a combined effort by the world community to combat
the forces that give rise to terrorism. "To fight terrorism, the whole
world must fight, not a small group of countries. A coalition means that
we will divide the world into different groups: a group to fight terrorism,
a group against this group, and a third group which is neutral. Then we
will fight each other without any reason," Mubarak argued on CNN. On NBC,
Mubarak warned that if the US pushed ahead with extensive strikes, it will
be heavily criticised and could end up standing alone. Instead, the US
should make "precise calculations" before striking.

"The US says it has documented evidence
implicating Bin Laden, but until now no neutral non- American party has
seen it," noted El-Baz. "We have seen no hard proof against Bin Laden,
but if other countries wish to participate in a coalition, that's their
call."

According to El-Baz, there are a
number of possible scenarios that might unfold in the coming weeks, including
unilateral strikes by the US. A coalition for retaliation could be formed,
"because the US wants to shore up political support for its action", but
it might also push for convening a UN conference. Such a conference could
result in anti-terrorism operations worldwide carried out by blue berets;
or, alternatively, an attempt to arrest and bring Bin Laden to justice
before an international court.

According to one political adviser
close to diplomatic circles, who spoke to Al-Ahram Weekly on condition
of anonymity, Egypt is worried that a coalition seems like a blank cheque.
The US has not specified who this coalition will target, but speculation
is rife that it could target not only Afghanistan but also Egypt-friendly
states, like Syria, Libya, Iraq and Sudan -- all accused by the US of harbouring
terrorists.

Egyptian officials focused attention
on their favourite subject of organising an international conference under
the auspices of the UN to combat terrorism -- a call Egypt first made a
decade ago. "I asked for an international conference to reach a convention
[binding on] all countries in order to avoid such catastrophic incidents,"
Mubarak told Larry King on CNN. But in the 1990s, Mubarak's call fell on
deaf ears as terrorism at the time appeared to be a purely domestic Egyptian
issue. "But I say terrorism is an international phenomenon that is more
dangerous than war," Mubarak said.

During the 1990s, Egypt witnessed
a rash of terrorist attacks by militant Islamists who targeted security
as well as civilian targets. This wave of terrorism culminated in the 1997
Luxor temple massacre, which resulted in the deaths of 47 tourists. Since
then, there has been a lull in violence after the state struck back hard
against terrorism. During Egypt's recent struggle with terrorism -- which
included an attempt on Mubarak's life in 1995 in Addis Ababa -- Mubarak
often warned the West that eventually they too will suffer the results
of giving refuge to suspected terrorists under the pretext of political
asylum.

Mubarak told NBC that countries must
stop giving refuge to terrorists on the grounds of protecting human rights.
"Arguments of human rights [abuses] should not be put forward on all occasions.
Those who carry out terrorist acts have no claim to human rights," Mubarak
said. Later, he told CNN that although Egypt stamped out terrorism at home,
there are "many [militant] elements in other countries who are very active,
they are in Europe ... but no one listened to us."

It does not seem, however, that the
proposed conference will take place any time soon. While the US seems preoccupied
with the idea of military retaliation, British officials have hedged around
the idea of a possible conference. "We agreed that the essential need at
the moment is to deal with the situation on the ground in the United States,
to work out the implications of that for all our countries. Later on, there
will certainly be activity in the UN, I'm sure, and I'm sure Egypt's proposal
will be examined very carefully at that time," British Deputy Head of Mission
Michael Gifford told the Weekly after meeting with Maher last Thursday.

US retaliatory action could further
complicate a stagnated peace process in the Middle East. Arab countries
accuse Israel of using the world's distraction with the New York and Washington
attacks to escalate aggression against the Palestinians. Israel has also
postponed a meeting between Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres and Arafat,
although that manoeuvre did not go unnoticed by American policy-makers.
"The US has asked [Israeli Prime Minister Ariel] Sharon to hold the Peres-Arafat
meeting," Maher said.

Mubarak indicated that tensions in
the Middle East were partially responsible for the attacks in the US. "The
feeling of injustice could lead to such events, but it's more complicated
than that," he told NBC.